The Left Hand of Russ
by Tyranic Marta
Summary: Lucian Frostfang, Lone Wolf of the Space Wolves chapter, had chased the Tau commander Shas'o Tau Kais, for months, right into the Eye of Terror, now he was close enough to meet him. And get his vengeance on Syrath, The Daemon that dogged the Tau's Path.
1. Prologue

The Left Hand of Russ

Prologue: The Ghost Wolf

Mission log forty nine: Personal log of Inquisitor Helmian Gauss

Our forces encountered resistance of the most nefarious kind: A company of several dozen chaos space marines intercepted our armoured columns with missile launchers and lascannons. We lost 8 chimeras in the first salvo another 6 in the second. We fought back and managed to eliminate 4 of the traitors with sustained hellgun fire but the thrice accursed power armour of the traitors held them firm against our assault. Furthermore their weapons began to eat their way through the men with deadly precision. We lost dozens of men and APC's in those first few minutes, and would have undoubtedly lost more if the traitors had continued with their attack. But they retreated swiftly before we could truly retaliate. This did not dissuade us and we immediately took the chance to eliminate more of the traitors by sending our veteran squads into the forests of the planet. Many of them equipped with plasma and meltaguns blessed by the representatives of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Our finest chased the traitors for several hours but when they finally caught up with them it was only to find the traitors slaughtered. The angle of the cuts and similarity between attacks suggested a single Astartes had defeated nearly 60 chaos space marines. One of the troopers found a single claw, a claw from a Fenrisian wolf; embedded in the ground next to one of the traitors.

It seems that a solo Space wolf wiped out 6 squads of chaos marines and the only evidence of his passing was a single claw. All of the traitors blood seemed to have been acidic to a degree and had expended itself attempting to blight the ground it was upon; aside from the blood on the traitors' bodies there was no Astartes blood. This suggests that the marine failed to even be hit by the traitors, with bolter, missile launcher, or lascannon. We thanked the emperor for his sending of the Lone Wolf to us this day. It seems our god smiles upon us still.

Mission log fifty: Personal log of Inquisitor Helmian Gauss

Today we discovered more Evidence of the Lone Wolf the men have ostensibly named "The Ghost Wolf". Our forward sentinel units were scouting the terrain ahead when one of the pilots noticed a copse of what he thought were trees. They would have been odd trees indeed but that is what the Pilots report insists. Regardless upon closer inspection they appeared to be crucified heretics. Forty five of the traitorous men (not Astartes) had been nailed to crosses with wooden stakes. They appeared to have been dead before hand and our medics tell us that the heretics had been killed initially by cuts that resembled those on the traitor Astartes we that had ambushed us five days ago. This continued presence of the Lone Wolf has the men's morale at an all-time high. The feeling that one of the sons of the emperor is watching over us has the men believing of the true power of the Imperium. I must admit that having one of the Astartes with us, however distantly, on our holy inquisition makes my heart soar. The Heretics were burned.

Mission log fifty one: Personal log of Inquisitor Helmian Gauss

Glorious news! The Lone Wolf who has been assisting us contacted our radio frequency this day. He calls himself Lucian Frostfang and agreed to meet with me. The meeting was brief, about thirty minutes after he contacted us he strode into our hasty camp. He was certainly an imposing sight; his blessed power armour had the skulls of wolves stylized onto its surface and pauldrons. From him hang many tattered tufts of fur and the necklaces of teeth which were long terrifying canines. His head was bare save for his own hair and his skin seemed to be unmarred which surprised me. Honestly I expected one of the sons of the Emperor to be more… battle worn. The sword he carried was a testament to the attacks made on his victims, about one and a half metres long and about a hand width wide the chain-blade was a work of art as well as war. Its hilt had the image of a pair of snapping wolves, one at each end of the cross-guard. And a wolf skull, made from what I assume was plasteel, seemed to swallow the blade. Aside from his physical appearance the Astartes seemed to exclude a sort of presence. It was like standing next to an image of Russ himself.

Lucian quickly explained his presence on the planet; he had been chasing the tracks of a Tau Commander named Shas'o Tau Kais. The name baffled me, why did these xenos have such long names? Regardless I had pointed out that the Tau weren't on that planet but he replied cryptically with: "They are here. But not in body."

That threw me

I hadn't known how to respond until he asked why we were there. I began to describe our inquisition but he waved me down. I was insulted for a moment and considered having the Astartes taken into custody. And then realised my thoughts and promptly expelled them from my mind. The planet had slowly started to turn me against this Astartes without my even noticing. The rituals will be long to purge my soul if I survive this. Regardless of my own inner turmoil he told us that he would aid us until he found the evidence he needed…

Mission log fifty two: Personal log of Inquisitor Helmian Gauss

Lucian was certainly a boon. His fighting capabilities were more than what was needed to defeat the chaos forces on the planet. And indeed the battle was over sooner than we had expected it would be. And then all to soon he was gone, and I am to be sent back…

To be purged.

Maybe he wasn't a boon.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One:Brotherhood

A resounding thud could be heard as the traitor marine hit the ground, coughing a foul smelling ichor onto the earthy mud beneath him. He looked up at Lucians face and his hand tried to reach his bolt pistol but Lucian simply cut the marines arm off with a smooth swing of his frost blade, Icetooth. He watched the traitor with a mixture of pity and hatred, his head cocked slightly to one side as the doomed warrior tried to stare down his killer.

"Tell me traitor… Why are you here? Your Kind, Chaos, why are they here?"

"Why should I tell you loyalist *cough* dog?"

"It's quite simple really; redemption. You have done a great many wrongs in your life traitor, telling me this before you die would bring you some redemption from your sins"

The chaos warrior spat a mixture of blood and acid at Lucian but it fell short.

"Then you have damned yourself for eternity"

Lucian turns and walks away letting the marine cough himself to death. Lucian had pierced the traitor's hearts. He wouldn't be long for this world.

The traitors had tried to ambush him in the forest south of the point where he departed the company of the Inquisitional squad. The last of the marines of the planet, all ten of them, had been very foolish. No power weapons no heavy armour piecing weapons and no real tactic other than shoot and hope for the best. It had surprised Lucian, but only in the way that he had expected more. It had been a simple matter for him to charge in close with them, their bolter shells sparking of his runic armour. He had seen their eyes widen, well the ones who weren't wearing helmets. Their plan had apparently been relying solely on massed bolter fire to bring him down. Clearly they were so corrupt that they had lost all sense of tactics. He had closed with them swiftly and butchered the first two without even thinking the next three fell to a trio of swift economic swings they didn't even have time to react to. The last five were on the ball and managed to draw their close combat chainswords and knives but nothing was a match for Icetooth, chainswords were rent asunder by the whirling teeth of the furious frostblade and the combat knives wilted under its onslaught. Four of the five were dead within three heartbeats and the last took a sideways strike that sheared through his armour and pierced both hearts. That was the marine he had tried to repent. But no they were all the same. He could still hear the marine's hacking coughs; spread further apart now… ahhh silence.

Frostfang made his way steadily through the trees to where his transport was docked. Soon he came upon a sunken crater with a Thunderhawk drop ship stationed there. His pilot was waiting in the cockpit his mouth hanging open with a line of drool running down his chin. Clearly old Loke had fallen asleep at the wheel again. Lucian chuckled the space wolf was a fierce fighter but boredom did not suit him. Lucian strapped himself into the copilot's seat after shaking the Lone wolf awake.

"I'm here Loke, we should head off."

"Mission accomplished?"

"Of course"

"Good, this place bores the crap outta me"

"I could see that drool-king"

"Shut up Frostfang"  
>Lucian chuckles lightly "Just get this crate in the air and back to the cruiser. We need to head to the eye."<p>

"We were always going to end up there weren't we?" Loke continues talking even as he brings the ship back to life.

"Unfortunately yes Loke, I always knew the daemon would head home eventually"

"To the warp?"

"No this daemon is no longer welcome amongst his brethren, he has betrayed to many. The Eye is his residence now."

"How do you know this stuff Lucian?"

"I think Loke, I think"

"Oh shut up"

Loke laughs heartily and brings the Thunderhawk up. It was a relic of the chapter that had been bestowed upon the Lone Wolf pack to aid them in their mission. These wolves were helping the chapter greatly and the Wolf Lords had decided that the Thunderhawk was best sent to the eye. It would be able to serve the wolves superbly, having been refitted to once carry the great Wolf Lord Marius, its armour and guns had been refitted to have a greater resilience to the rigors of spaceflight and so it was perfect for the Lone Wolves. The cradle that once held the great Wolf Lord still lay in stillness. A swish of mead was poured over it at the meeting of the Wolf Lords at the fang. The Great Company that Sven Bloodhowl once commanded has chosen a new charismatic leader; one that unlike Marius or Sven, was not as martially skilled, but was a better tactician. While Marius and Sven had been warriors, Heimdall (Named after the great legendary axe that Mikal had carried before taking up the now runeblade Flashfreeze) was a general.

Lucian tore his thoughts away from his old chapter. It had been a grim few hours. Marius had the shortest known reign as Wolf Lord, but also one of the most influential. He had single handedly pulled the chapter out of a war that it was loosing badly. And then he had betrayed them, all of them. Lucian clenched his fists in his lap as the Thunderhawk breached the stratosphere of the planet. Chaos had done this, Syrath had done this. The Daemon would know pain. The Thunderhawk, renamed "The tears of Fenris" docked smoothly under the skilled hands of Loke. The Lone Wolf had spent more time in the saddle of various ships than he had on the battle field itself. He was a pilot first, a warrior second. Loke pulled the release slider on the drop ship's doors and Lucian lumbered his way out. He felt bone weary after a 4 week lack of sleep. An ordinary human would be dead by now, but his enhanced metabolism was keeping him awake just long enough to get to a resting chamber. He waved the Wolves off knowing that Loke would get them moving and inform them of their destination while Lucian took a much needed sleep.

TLHOR-}

Lucian was shaken awake some hours later by Gerwik the heavy weapons specialist of the pack. Lucian was surprised; usually the Space wolf would be tinkering with his guns.

"What is it brother?"

"You have been unconscious for forty eight hours, Loke told me to wake you."

Lucian groans slightly into his forked beard as he sits, 'had it really been two Terran days?"

"I'll be right along, thank you brother"

"No problem. We need you alert Lucian"

"I know…" Lucian decided to share some of his feelings with the usually taciturn gunman.

"This chase has been wearing on me, what has it been? Three months? And still no sign of the Daemon"

"We will find him brother, have faith"

"Faith I have brother, but sometime faith cannot bring us everything we require. Sometimes we need something more"  
>"Talk like that does not befit you Lucian, come down to the firing ranges when you are ready, I've been working on something that may snap you out of this mood"<p>

"I would appreciate that greatly Gerwik; I'll be there as soon as I have eaten"

"I will be waiting Lucian; do not make me wait overlong"

"Of course not brother, I know how famously short your patience is…"

The two share a rare laugh

Lucian made his way down to the galley. It was a strange sight in the mornings, the 5 lone wolves all made an appearance to commune before starting their daily rituals. Gerwik would often forgo this bonding time as he had only recently become a lone wolf, his pack killed in the battle of Fenris. But the others, Loke, Tibrus (often affectionately called "Ribs" because of his fondness for the mastodon rib roast common to his old great company), Frendi (Nicknamed "Friendly" ironically as he tended to become quite vicious on the battle field), and of course Lucian. Took the time out of their daily routines and rituals alongside other more pack oriented endeavors to spend the time together like a normal pack would. It gave them a sense of normality that eased the pressure of their broad Astartes backs.

Lucian collapsed onto a bench next to Frendi and the other marines laughed at his slightly loose demeanor,

"Up at last sleeper?"

"You really should get more sleep Lucian you look more tired out than that bovine you accidentally pissed of on Ishvar, and that thing was knackered by the time you finished with it."

"Oh can it you lot, I've been fighting for the glory of the Imperium out there!"

"Don't make me laugh Frostfang; the most glory you could get out there would be changing the Inquisitors nappy."

"Yeah Lucian, have fun babysitting the guardsmen?"

"C'mon brother, give them credit, they fight bravely *snicker* against *snicker* Chaos *snicker* with… with… *snicker* flashlights!"

Peals of laughter echoed around the galley.

Later Lucian trod the familiar path down to the ranges; Gerwik's, typical domain. He opened the wide sliding door and went in cautiously, Gerwik had been known to ambush the other lone wolves for sport with his favorite weapon of choice for such endeavors, a Terran paintball gun. The weapon however was nothing like its archaic earth counterpart. It had been modified to fire orbs of paint mixed with a mildly radioactive isotope that could be used to track his targets. The paint was also notoriously hard to wash off. And in its compact pistol form he could strike anywhere and anytime.

"Lucian, good to see you brother"

"Indeed, I was worried you would mark me brother"

"Not today Lucian, I need you happy and compliant for this."

"That does not ease my thoughts Gerwik"

"I didn't expect it to brother, but that is fine. You will understand soon."

"I take your word for it Gerwik"

The weapons specialist took the Lone Wolf over to a table spread with computers and other devices, namely a distinctly green tinged bolt shell laying ominously on Gerwik's "Showy Plinth". Lucian picked the bolt shell up and scrutinized it carefully, apart from the warheads green tinge it was rather normal looking. Lucian looked over and saw an uncharacteristically enthusiastic grin on Gerwik's face.

"Alright I'll bite, what's so special about this 'wonder bolt' of yours?"  
>Gerwik chuckled and took the bolter shell reverentially from Lucian.<p>

"This little baby is enriched…"

"Enriched? What is it enriched with Gerwik?"

"Diamond shards and promethium"

"Oh"

"Yes 'Oh' genius, this little beauty will punch through plasteel every single time."

"How do you know?"

"I've tested it genius"  
>"Huh? But its right there, wouldn't it be just a spent cartridge?" Then it dawned on him. "You made more."<p>

"Did I ever! 20 clips of the things, I've drained a couple testing various thicknesses of Plasteel but as it turns out these little beauties will go through 4 inches of the stuff"

"Really?"  
>"Really really, and you know what's even better? In here I can recover the diamond shards and recreate the shells. So you can test it if you want"<p>

"Sounds good"

Lucian un-slings his bolter from his back and loads one of the clips of enriched bolter shells and heads to the range, he takes up a firing position and aims down the sights, he spots a suit of chaos armour they had looted some 5 weeks previously for target practice along with a whole 3 squads of the suits. They had had plenty of practice. He lets his bionic eye calculate the distance and feed it before his vision. He notes the range subconsciously but he has fired so many rounds downrange on this cruiser that the distance is second nature. He squeezes the trigger once and feels the bolter kick in his hands as the enriched bolt exits the chamber and ignites its own propulsion adding to its speed. The mild sonic boom of the shot is muffled by his Lyman's ear and the brilliant explosion downrange makes him grin.

After walking downrange to the armour he notes a massive 14" diameter hole in the chest plate of the suit. The bolt shells were certainly capable he thought. Gerwik yelled downrange

"Did it work for ya?"

Lucian grinned at the hole before yelling over his shoulder

"Oh yeah, it worked alright"

The next time the chaos warriors decided to take a chunk out of the Lone wolves at range they would be in for a shock.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Rituals

Lucian and the wolves had fallen into a routine in their time aboard the "Blizzard of Vengeance"; the ship was equipped with everything the lone wolves needed, from firing ranges to solitudiums. And the wolves used these provisions to their most extent. Brother Tibrus for instance spent a good amount of time in the training halls, expanding on his expansive knowledge of swordplay and axe work, the lone wolf wielded a frostaxe and frostblade in battle and was lethal with the pair to the point of overkill. Gerwik spent his time firing holo-rounds into targets in the firing ranges and thinking about his pack, meditating in the solitudiums. Lucian frequently sparred with Frendi the two having a near identical fighting style although Frendi's turned towards butchery if he lost his temper. And Loke tended to sit in the saddle of the ships control bridge keeping the ships course en route to perfection.

These routines and rituals kept the wolves' tensions and stresses to a minimum and allowed them to let off steam. But when they met in the corridors they tended to avoid contact and conversation. They stuck to their own thoughts and rarely, if ever, communed outside the galley. Each of the wolves' knew that this would most likely be their last mission, they were all quite prepared to die, their vengeance had come long ago, now they were essentially following Lucian to help him fulfil his own vengeance, and perhaps earn some glory.

Lucian had reflected long and hard on this taciturn nature of the wolves, they all had something dark to run from and this filtered through into their everyday routines, the constant battle or preparation for it, wore on their souls. They needed a break. He thought about the morning communion and realised that they already had that kind of break, what they really needed was something to vent their frustrations on; something to kill. Lucian made his way to the bridge and motioned to Loke who saw him come in.  
>"Brother… are there any conflicts near our position?"<br>"No there aren't, there won't be until we get closer to the Cadian gate."  
>"How long will that be?"<br>"Maybe three Terran days"  
>"Once we get there start searching for a conflict, we all need to vent some steam."<br>"Agreed"

TLHOR-}

Three days later Loke called the pack to the briefing hall and told them of the conflict settling into the world of Getrua. There were about 3 dozen chaos cruisers orbiting the planet and the Guardsmen below were waiting out a furious siege. They had requested several times for Astartes reinforcements but the chaos ships were jamming the long distance vox signal. It turned out that the 5 Lone wolves could give them a hand. Both sides had lost their tank support and the siege had turned into a guerrilla war on the outskirts of several major cities. This was of course a near perfect environment for the Pack to head down into in the Thunderhawk. All they had to do was break through the Cruiser blockade.

The plan was simple, simple and dangerous; just how most space wolves liked it. They would all pile into the Thunderhawk and Loke would take them through the blockade at top speed, the thunderhawk's inbuilt shields would protect them from any shots that even came close to hitting and they would be through, once they were closer they would fly directly into the middle of Guardsman territory hailing them on the vox. Their reinforcements would finally be there.

They all kitted up with their favourite weapons, and Gerwik chose a master crafted heavy bolter, the weapon loaded with his new enriched shells he would be a terror on the battlefield. Loke took an ancient Plasma gun that he had had for decades, the thing had never died on him and he was proud of the fact. Tibrus took his usual Hand and a Half Frost blade and a Combi-melta that had seen it fair share of tank rear armour. Frendi his usual Frost weapons and Lucian his Frost blade and Master crafted bolter, now loaded with the shells that Gerwik had enriched. The pack was geared up and ready for war.

As the squad got themselves ready for the battle Lucian also took the time to help Loke outfit the Thunderhawk for the dry run. All of its secondary weapons systems were stripped of ammo to reduce weight and the shield generator was fitted with additional blast shields. Finally the harnesses for each member were checked and the pack piled in. Soon Loke was guiding them out of the hangar and into the void of space. Lucian was strapped in next to Tibrus and he watched the marine methodically chew on a long femur bone that he had kept for such an occasion. Between gnaws the wolf explained his strange pre-battle ritual.  
>"It helps… to…. Loosen… oh that was a good bit *crack*… my jaw, stops me from… clenching it…"<br>Lucian laughed at the Astartes who laughed right on back before continuing to gnaw.

Across from Lucian Gerwik was looking around quite calmly, the former long fang was unconcerned with the plan. It was simple and efficient, just the way he liked to work; Frendi on the other hand seemed to be rather anxious to get to fighting. He hated ships. Lucian looked over to him and nodded grimly, Lucian knew the feeling. He hated not being able to see his enemies. Fight them. It wasn't that he wasn't confident in Loke's skill but the interior of a ship seemed a distinctly unsafe place to be when they had to fly through a cruiser blockade.

They were soon in range of the Cruisers weapons but the lack of announcement and other traffic meant that the first few hundred kilometres were mainly unopposed. However when they got in range of the cruisers auto turrets they had to begin jinking and weaving and Loke performed admirably, weaving them through the lines of marching fire and into the clear space between the cruisers and the planet. Oddly enough no interceptors had been sent to destroy them, however it wasn't surprising when Lucian remembered what Loke had said; both sides of this conflict had worn each other down to the point where only infantry and last resort transports were present.

The ship was soon within the planets atmosphere, Loke having sworn loudly at the top of his voice at one point when a bird nearly hit the windshield. Lucian immediately began calling the guardsmen on the vox and he soon got a reply from the Cadians.  
>{This is commander Stone of the Cadian 35th, we will gladly accept your help Lucian, we have been beset for quite some time and your assistance would turn the tide here.}<br>Lucian thought the commander was remarkably calm for the stress he must have been under  
>{Those were out thoughts precisely commander. Where can we land?}<br>{As close as you can Lucian, have your Pilot aim for the red smoke}  
>{Understood, I look forward to meeting you commander}<br>{Likewise Lucian}

Loke had heard the conversation and was already pulling the Thunderhawk down over the red smoke in the city below. The guardsmen seemed to have fortified the city beyond usual measures with buildings turned into bunkers at every turn.

Lucian and the four other Lone wolves made their way down the embarkation ramp to see that there was a waiting committee. Commander Stone it seemed was no older than early thirties and yet he seemed to have an air of command about him that easily made him the most commanding human present. His uniform was conspicuously lacking the usual medals and sigils of command and Lucian was quick to bring this point up.  
>"I was wondering how long it would take you to notice. I was not the commander at the beginning of this siege. We lost our general early on to a heretical suicide bomber. I have been commanding ever since but I have simply been holding the fort down until a proper commander can make his entrance."<br>"How long have you been commanding, master Stone?"  
>"About 57 Terran Days, 93 of them here."<br>This impressed Lucian, any human who could command these troops to survive for 57 days without any real experience was certainly worthy of note.

The commander led him to a command bunker where he had maps laid out with a mass of red dots.  
>"These red dots are the known chaos positions. There are probably more but we could certainly use your help in taking out the ones we know of."<br>"Certainly Commander, are there any particular point of interest?"  
>He points to five of them<br>"These certainly are. The chaos commanders use these points as their bases. So far we know of 3 commanders but there may be more. It seems that they have no sorcerer with them."  
>"What do we know about the chaos Marines themselves?"<br>"They are black legion and they seem to be mainly warriors of Khorne and chaos undivided. The heavy weapons teams of the chaos legion have been wiped out by early attacks with our sentinels, they seem to only have rank and file squads and the odd jump infantry squad remaining; but there are certainly no shortage of them."  
>"This information will be valuable indeed. Thank you commander, we depart immediately, hold the fort till our return."<br>"Of course Lucian"

The Lone wolves quickly make their plans they know that the warriors of Khorne are the greatest threat but at the same time they are no great worry. The warriors of chaos are never a real match for any of the Lone wolves. They would strike their way forwards deep into chaos territory and hit the Command points. The plan was that the Chaos warriors would be so unready for Astartes in their midst and having wasted fire against the Guardsmen for so long that the chaos warriors would be resorting to close combat measures.

Frendi would take point with Tibrus and Lucian on either side of him. Bolters out and ready to mow down anything that got to close. Loke and Gerwik would follow in behind saving their ammunition for important encounters. The pack made their way to one of the remaining walls of the city to get a good look at the planet they would be fighting on. It seemed to be covered in jungles when you left the cities. This didn't surprise any of them but they would all be missing the snows of home. The planets three moons were out early and seemed to rotate around the planet in synchronization with the daylight. Lucian took note of this as the Moons would be a valuable navigational aid when they were deep in the forests of the planet.

Loke came up beside Lucian and asked him the question on all of their minds.  
>"How long do you think were going to be here Lucian"<br>"As long as it takes brother"  
>"That's what I'm worried about Lucian. This could take years. The trail of the Tau could be lost by then"<br>"The Rune priests told me of the way that time shifts in the warp. At this time of the Galactic revolution there will be a flux of time in the warp where decades on the outside can take mere days in the Warp. This will give us the time we need to fulfil the battle here and stay on the Tau's trail."  
>"Are you sure Lucian, this mission is worrying enough as it is without us having to find the scent of our quarry again"<br>"I'm quite sure brother"  
>"In that case we should probably get moving."<br>Here Gerwik put his thoughts into the discussion  
>"As eager as I am to kill these traitorous dogs do you not think that we should take a day of rest?"<br>"No, we are quite ready for this, remember the chaos forces here have been cut of from any real supplies for months; they will be low on ammo and patience. The longer we wait here the more chance of a chaos cruiser coming to reinforce the enemy here. We should get moving now."  
>"Right again Lucian, but let's suppose that a chaos cruiser does appear while we're down here. What then?"<br>"Then we pray to Russ that they bring spare bolter shells because by then even we will be needing them."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter three: A battle for freedom. Part one 

'The dogs of war…' They had been called that before by a Chaos marine; the dogs that always snapped at the heels of battles. And honestly, that's how it felt right then; they had come into this war in the closing stages of it, simply to vent some steam. Lucian chuckled to himself. They may be dogs of war but their canines were still quite sharp. They had broken the sieges of planets in similar circumstances to this before. It was becoming almost a hobby of theirs. One they were rather efficient at.

They would start at the top, eliminating leaders and generals and then and only then, finish of the foes while there was a power vacuum. The tactic worked every time, and to perfection. This planet was easier than most, they already had their targets mapped out for them, literally. They would strike swiftly into the heart of the Chaos lines, targeting the command emplacements one at a time and flush the Chaos Lords out of hiding. They would butcher these pretenders and then move on. As there were only three they fully expected to have to search each and every command point. There were more than enough for the traitors to scurry to.

The Chaos commanders would be pathetic; they always were, certainly tougher than an ordinary chaos warrior, but they were no match for the Lone Wolves. Each of them had defeated dozens of these pretenders singlehandedly, and together they were an unstoppable force. Even Gerwik could hold his own in close combat against the supposed leaders of the Chaos forces that the Pack so often fought. Lucian himself had dedicated an entire cargo hold of the cruiser to the kill marks of the Chaos Lords he had defeated. These Lone Wolves were no ordinary fighters. They were the best and most powerful Lone Wolves that the Space Wolf chapter currently had. And they were all in one place. Lucian almost pitied the traitors, almost.

The pack moved out of the gates only minutes after they had agreed upon their course of action. They were travelling in their decided upon pattern with Lucian scanning around constantly. Soon they passed the last rows of Guardsmen who saluted them briefly before re-manning their guns. The Pack almost took no heed but Loke nodded a brief tribute to the Guardsmen as they passed, the wolves had no time for real niceties. Lucian swiveled his head slowly from side to side as they moved forwards, panning his Bolter in time with his eye movements. As they entered into the forest Lucian almost heard the wolves growl a little in their throats. This was prime territory for them; plenty of cover, yet plenty of space to move and aim. And they would certainly mark this place as theirs, but with the blood of Chaos marines.

They were silent as they moved, each wolf covering his own piece of territory calmly and quickly before moving on. They never broke formation and acted as a team, a team that had been fighting for centuries; even if they had only been a pack for mere months. This was how efficient the training of the Space Wolves was, perfection, pure perfection, even in a team of Astartes that barely knew each other, perfection. Lucian briefly thought about his misgivings about their potential cohesion as a pack. He always did when they got onto the ground of some alien world with a few tons of plasteel and Astartes surrounding them. This was their home.

Lucian heard a heavy crunching sound coming from ahead and raised an open splayed palm, the squad moved instantly, space wolves moving swiftly over the ground. Loke Lucian and Tibrus moved into a V with Loke at the back and Lucian and Tibrus at the front, Gerwik moved slightly of to the side to give himself plenty of fire lines and Frendi slunk forwards to make the rip of the diamond with the three gunners behind him. This was fairly standard practice and allowed the Wolves to respond to pretty much anything that approached them and a good thing too.

Directly in front of them there was a concussive boom and a tree exploded into a mass of splinters. Gerwik yelled out in a calm voice:  
>"Autocannon, possibly reaper, that means terminators, get ready for them!"<p>

Tibrus and Lucian both sling their respective ranged weapons behind their backs and drew their hand and a half frost blades, setting the teeth churning with a few revs they settled into stances that allowed them to move whichever way they needed. Loke came forwards to give his plasma gun better accuracy and Frendi fell back to form a line with Tibrus and Lucian,

The trees in front of them shattered and 5 massive terminators stomped forwards, four with a twin linked bolter and a power fist one with a Reaper autocannon and a power weapon. The twin linked bolters started spitting but the shells ricocheted harmlessly from the Packs Runic armour. Lucian spoke:

"Ribs go left, I'll go right, and Friendly takes point Loke save your charges if you can and Gerwik get behind us, we don't need them hitting you with that autocannon."  
>The Wolves shuffled slightly with Gerwik sidling in behind them his heavy bolter almost ineffective against the terminators whose armour was to powerful for even the enriched shells.<p>

Frendi charged forwards immediately with a bellow and brought one of the startled terminators down before he could raise a weapon to save himself, a back handed blow of Frendi's axe shearing straight through the terminators torso. Lucian sprinted to the right and used a tree as a springboard, running parallel to it and then pushing off from it turning in midair to lop the head of the Autocannon bearing terminator. Tibrus took a more direct approach shearing his frostblade through the waist of a third.

The terminators however were not beat and one tried to grab Frendi buy the throat with his power fist only to have the offending limb lopped of by an uppercut sweep from Frendi's frostblade. Lucian came from the side and slid his own weapon deep into the terminators chest via the now exposed armpit. Wrenching the weapon free he turned to the final terminator only to find Tibrus calmly wiping his sword on the downed warrior's loincloth.

"Piece of cake, these terminators were pathetic, they had the right approach but with no real skill"

Lucian quietly agreed with him and was also confident in the victory, they hadn't fired a shot and so had conserved valuable ammo. But something about the battle rang badly in his mind. There was something off about the way the terminators had attacked. He then noticed the Icon of Khorne decorating the top of ones hood.

"They were Khornate. No wonder they charged in without thinking."

Loke chuckled

"I always love watching you three chop up terminators, it seems almost comical"

Lucian laughed freely for a few seconds with the others before bringing himself to a halt

"Come brothers, this battle is not yet over."

"Agreed Lucian, we still have many more of the traitors to fell"  
>"Quite right Ribs, and fell them we will"<p>

The pack fell back into its formation and sped forwards through the trees, according to Gerwik's locator they were quite close to the first command emplacement and were beginning to get excited, Loke placed a proud bet that Lucian would fell at least three of the chaos marines before Gerwik could fire a shot. Three of the wolves scoffed at this, they knew that Lucian was fast, but not that fast. Gerwik however looked interested.

"If he can what is it to ya?"

"Only the knowledge that I called it right."  
>"You're on"<p>

Lucian barked a laugh

"Do I not get any say in this?"  
>The four wolves laughed<p>

"No!"

Lucian chuckled before drawing his weapon.

"I guess I had best fulfill the wishes of the pack hadn't I?"  
>"Absolutely"<p>

The pack came upon the command point like an iron hammer on an anvil, with a tiny insect trapped betwixt. Loke and Gerwik picked their targets carefully laying down fire arcs that effectively halted the enemies with holes in their chests. However Lucian was not to be bested and had sprinted forwards leaping into the fray with a savage growl, his blade sweeping from one marine to the next felling at least six before the other melee members of the pack had gotten there. However Gerwik had started firing almost immediately and the pack had no idea who had won the wager.

They argued it nonetheless:  
>"I told you lot he would get them"<p>

"Bah, Gerwik opened fire before his sword fell upon the second"  
>"Nonsense Lucian and disemboweled at least two of them with that first strike."<p>

"Fight brothers!"  
>The pack settled into their grim task of butchering the marines, none were a match for the Lone Wolves who took personal pride in dispatching at least twenty of the Chaos Traitors before they could even truly respond. Moments later the pack was calm and composed the Chaos marines laying about them in various states of dismemberment. It always shocked the Pack how ineffective the Chaos Marines were. They had always imagined that they would be stronger and more resilient than they were in the flesh. Regardless they still made good sport. A quick search of the command post told them that there was no commander here.<p>

Lucian looked over his brothers briefly to check for injuries, none were to be found, Loke had only fired three shots and was manually recharging his plasma cell with the energy pack in his backpack. No need wasting a clip when his backpack had three extra chambers purely for this purpose. Gerwik was checking his ammo feed for potential jams and happy that there were none sat down on the stump of a tree that had caught Frendi's axe when he was forced to avoid a bolter shell uncannily aimed at his skull. Frendi himself was kicking the corpses of the traitors over so that their faces were down and performing coup-de-gras on each to ensure their permanent death. These marines had a nasty habit of getting up again.

Tibrus was with Lucian looking at some of the command posts Intel, there was plenty there but little that mattered. It appeared that the Chaos Marines were keeping their main Intel in their heads. The two fighters departed the bunker and communed with the other Pack members as to their next move. The result was unanimous, the point was cleared. Time to move on, if one of the Chaos Lords had somehow managed to flank them and ended up at this position then he would probably try to track the Lone Wolves, making their job significantly easier.

Lucian stood next to Loke as they viewed the carnage, Loke voiced his thoughts

"Why do they even bother?"  
>"What do you mean brother?"<br>"They fight… Fruitlessly, against us… It is pointless, so why do they fight?"

"They fight because it is in their blood, as it is in ours, they know no different, and the day I see a chaos marine surrender is the day I believe that this war against them may one day have an end."  
>"Your words are wise brother, why did you not become a Wolf Priest?"<br>"It was not my path"

"It's that simple?"  
>"It's that simple"<p>

Tibrus Frendi and Gerwik came over to them and looked on at the carnage themselves, all looking with tired eyes. This conflict felt too easy, as if there was something letting them win. Of course they always felt like this, they were the best at what they did. It always felt too easy. But the feeling seemed to persist until they replayed the battles in their mind later, the mind numbingly powerful and skillful Chaos Marines simply being butchered. There was no other way to describe it as a simple over match of skill. The Lone Wolves had perfected their skills. To the point where they could fight completely blind and use only their noses and ears to target their foes. They had done it before on night worlds. It wasn't unheard of. What was unheard of was the lack of wounds that they took. They seemed to be invincible. Lucian hoped that would never change.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: A battle for Freedom Part 2

Lucian couldn't help but sigh deeply into his beard; he shook his head slightly and coughed at the metallic stench of blood, and then realized that it wasn't his own. He looked over himself and realized that he was unharmed. He chuckled to himself before shaking his head again 'Your getting old Lucian if you can't even remember if you were hurt in a battle you just fought'. He chuckled once more and took a moment to collect his thoughts before he turned away from the scene and motioned for the others to follow.

They fell into step and soon were moving at their usual pace, the next command point was not to far away and indeed the one they had just been to and their next destination were their two closest together targets. They were unopposed as they sped forwards over the ground and soon they had a visual on the command point, they spread out around it and took a quick survey, Lucian taking his time now that the wager was forgotten.

The site had fewer marines but they were all sporting the "Bunny Ears" of Khorne berserkers. This development meant that the Space Wolves would have a distinctly harder foe to defeat, however they berserkers were still no match for the Lone Wolves. There is little that the Berserkers could do little against the firestorm that was about to be unleashed. Gerwik had locked his heavy bolter down on its clamps and was ready to fire, Lucian and Tibrus had armed their bolters and Loke was sighting down the barrel of his plasma gun on a Khornate champion.

Lucian raised and then dropped his arm and brought his weapon to bear. They had been silent when surrounding the emplacement and so when they began to fire the Chaos Marines were totally unprepared for the firestorm of shells and plasma blasts that ripped through them. Lucian pulled the trigger of his weapon again and again his shots chewing through the lines of chaos warriors, thirty pulls later his finger came to a halt and he reloaded, the muted snapping sounds of the magazines slipping in and out of their mounting repeated along the line by Tibrus who was also reloading his weapon.

Within the first 10 seconds every single marine had been felled. Each and every one taken down by an enriched shell fired from a bolter or heavy bolter. And the judicious use of plasma bolts from Loke kept the marines from lifting a hand to defend themselves against the weapons of the Lone Wolves. Each enriched shell had fallen true and killed a berserker. Even the rapid fire of the heavy bolter wielded by Gerwik did not waste ammunition. Every shot was carefully timed and his strafes were panned out to fire in perfect arcs that swept through his foes.

Needless to say it was butchery. However it was not over, a heavy pounding sound echoed around the clearing and the door to the bunker slammed open. From the darkness strode a titanic Chaos Warrior wearing armour that while not terminator armour, was still impressively huge. The twisted blade in his hand was clearly a daemonic weapon and the shield strapped to his arm was rippling with dark energies. Lucian strode forwards. This was why he existed, to hunt down the commanders of Chaos.

The warrior bellowed out in fury as he surveyed the carnage, he kicked a corpse demanding that it stand to fight again. To Lucian's great astonishment it tried to, but failed because of whatever reason and crashed back to the ground. The warrior kicked the corpse again and it broke open at the waist revealing mechanical and tech parts. Lucian now could comprehend why the warriors were so unskilled, they were all automatons. This also explained the incongruous absence of blood. Lucian growled in his throat. This was a Warsmith, and a Warsmith Dedicated to Khorne. He was smarter than Lucian had thought; stealing the Black legions colors was a good way to remove suspicion of such trickery.

Lucian stamped his foot getting the warriors attention that only now looked straight at the Lone wolf. Lucian was perhaps a third shorter than his foe but the Warsmith seemed to be wary of the Space Wolf. Lucian grinned with feral edge before charging straight in. His sword looped around in a casual arc that would have shorn the warrior in twain had the Warsmith not parried at the last second. Lucian twisted his wrist flicking the weapon up and nearly dislodging the daemon blade from the Warsmith's grip. The Chaos Warriors shield however swung round and nearly smashed into Lucian who was forced to step backwards. But the chaos warrior had over extended and Lucian swung his weapon down brutally to hack the Warsmith's elbow. The Warsmith howled and the shield dropped to the ground embedding itself into the dirt on one edge.

Lucian pressed his advantage and swung low at the warrior's thigh but the Warsmith was not yet beaten and slid his sword between them blocking Lucians blow. Lucian realized that he was now the one at the disadvantage and so instead of backing of, which may have proved fatal, he kicked his foe hard in the back of the knee. Not felling his foe but certainly distracting him for long enough that Lucian could flick his wrist to the side and then pivot back slicing a long line across the Warsmith's bicep armour, deep enough to cut into his arm severing many tendons. The Warsmith again howled in fury and his sword joined his shield lodged in the ground. Lucian span on one foot slamming his other into the Warsmith's chest knocking him over.

The heavy resounding crash was lost to Lucian as he stalked around the side of the Warsmith and rested the tip of his weapon at the Chaos Lords throat; intending to question the beast of an Astartes. However the Warsmith denied him this opportunity by sharply raising his head and impaling himself on the weapon. Lucian shook his head in disgust and withdrew his sword. He turned to the other members of his pack who were holding the perimeter not even bothering to watch the fight. They had known Lucian would win before he even raised his blade.

"Pitiful… It is over brothers. He is dead."

"Did he not talk? Why did you not question him?"

Lucian turned to Loke, a confused expression on the other marines face.

"He impaled himself on the blade at his throat. My reflexes were not enough to save him from himself."

"That is understandable brother, completely understandable. Come, we shall check their Intel, and see if there is any more that we can gleam."

"Agreed"

Again the search for intelligence was fruitless, nothing was to be found. The squad reloaded and prepared to move out. Before they could however there was a trembling to be felt in the ground and seen in the trees. All around them the ground shook with a repeated thudding boom that rippled through the ground and air. Seemingly out of nowhere a massive figure plummeted through the air and landed smack in the middle of the clearing and released a mighty bellow. The 6 meter high figure had a serpentine tail that flowed behind it and between two stocky legs that held up a tall torso that in turn supported a pair of powerful arms, a pair of bat like wings and a daemonic head. The arms carried a pair of long blades that shimmered in the half light of the forest and the Daemon Prince was armoured in what appeared to be Plasteel plate armour.

"Allfather above! A daemon prince, Lucian to your sword!"

Tibrus' shout is like a catalyst as Lucian again draws his blade and Tibrus and Frendi join him, The Daemon swings down without preamble one of his blades. The weapon makes a harsh grating sound as it skates over Lucian's sword. Gerwik bellows as his heavy bolter opens up and stitches a line of shells over the Daemon Prince's chest who in turn roars in fury. Tibrus hacks at the daemons thighs and Frendi charges forwards trying to hack at the daemons chest. Lucian duels with the daemon keeping the attention of one of its arms while the second is shorn away by an incandescent bolt from Loke's plasma gun.

The Daemon prince roared in fury as it seemed unable to stop the quintet of marines from slowly tearing it apart. Its body began to buckle and suddenly it seemed to warp and then a loud bang was heard and the marines were blasted crossways around the clearing. The Daemon prince was utterly destroyed. But they all knew it would return, if not now then some time in the future. Lucian looked over his brothers and found them all to be quite healthy. He almost did a double take but stopped himself. He knew that he and his brothers were skilled but to come away from a battle with a daemon prince completely unharmed?

He shook his head slightly. Either the chaos in the galaxy was weakening or he and his brothers were so over skilled that their own personal ragnarok must have been nigh. No son of Russ should be skilled enough to come away from a battle with a daemon prince completely unscathed; let alone five of them. He couldn't help but wonder if some kind of trap was being laid. He looked around at his brothers and smiled grimly. Even if some kind of trap was being laid then they wouldn't be killed by it.

He wiped his sword on the grass still unstained by blood. The Warsmith had vented only a little of his visceral fluids when he died. His heart seemed to have been still the whole time. Khorne had clearly left his patron some time ago the rushing of blood clearly not a vital part of the Warsmith's work, Khorne would have seen little need to continue associating with such an impotent worshipper. The creating of beings that did not spill blood would have been like blasphemy to the blood god. No wonder the Chaos here were so fragile and weak.

The Guardsmen could deal with these shadows of Astartes if they but advanced into the forests with sweeping gun lines. They could purge the planet and force the Chaos off of it. Force them to flee. But the commander was new; he was more interested in defense than attack, even when attack is ones best form of defending. Lucian cast his eyes over the battle field, taking in the macabre scene; his brothers turning the dead over to face down into the mud, the corpses almost casually strewn about. When had they become so inured to the needs of the dead?

He shook himself of the thought. These Astartes had died the moment they turned their backs on the Allfather. They had become traitors the moment they took arms up against their brothers, they became foul servants of empty deities the moment they closed the fist against the hand of justice. Lucian spat vehemently on the ground, his brothers turned to him.

"What is it brother?"

"Why are we here Gerwik? To fight these sons of the Allfather turned to Chaos?"  
>"Of course Lucian, these foul wretches must be purged"<p>

"Are we the ones who are to purge them however?"

"Yes brother, it is our duty. Was it not your idea to come to this Chaos touched world? To… Vent steam as I recall?"

"Perhaps, but what has this become? A crusade? What gives us the right to begin one of those?"

"Our status as Lone Wolves Lucian, surely you have not forgotten that?"  
>Lucian sighed heavily; all eyes were on him now<p>

"No brother I have not forgotten. Have you noticed that the guardsmen here could finish these pathetic excuses for the enemy themselves?"

"They have not the courage brother"

"Perhaps you are right."

Lucian slowly nodded and turned away re-checking the load of his bolter. He looked around and saw the dead, saw the feebleness of their bodies.

Lucian looked around and couldn't help but wonder if they were even needed there.


	6. Authors Note

Authors note

Recently it has come to my attention that my Fictions have not been updated for nearly a month.

I am sorry for this lax level of work and I have no real excuse. Hopefully things will start up once more now that my mind is back in the game.

The Flaming Skull


End file.
